§ MR. SCHWANNI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that Mr. Bain, a tea planter of Cachar, who was lately committed for trial on a charge of beating to death a coolie who had absconded from his garden, was tried before a jury of five Europeans belonging to his own district, and was found guilty of causing simple hurt only; and whether seeing that the jury consisted of tea-planters and persona connected with the tea industry, he will consider the desirability of 569 transferring such cases for trial to a district other than that in which the accused resides, in order that they may be tried before an independent tribunal, and of arranging for a re-trial of this case.
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONI have seen a report in the newspapers of the result of the trial referred to. The trial was held before a Sessions Judge and a jury; and if the Judge had disagreed with the jury's verdict it was open to him to submit the case to the High Court, who could have passed any sentence which they considered justified by the facts which they found to be proved. It was further open to the Government, if they thought fit, to move the High Court to call for the record; and if that Court thought the verdict erroneous, owing to a misdirection by the Judge, or to a misunderstanding on the part of the jury of the law as laid down by him, it could deal with the case as it thought proper. The Government can also move the High Court to order the transfer to another district. This being the law, I see no necessity for taking action as suggested in the Question. I have no power to arrange for a re-trial of the case.